Bartow County, GA — More than 3 1/2 months after Georgia State Patrol agents killed forest defender Manuel “Tortuguita” Esteban Paez Terán during a raid in Welaunee Forest, officials still refuse to name those officers responsible for her death or take steps to bring them to justice.
After months of waiting, activists and community members seem to have started to provide transparency themselves.
In late April, researchers from the Atlanta Community Press Collective released the names of five Georgia State Patrol SWAT agents believed to have been involved in Tortuguita’s assassination. The officers’ names are Bryland Myers, Jerry Parrish, Jonathan Salcedo, Mark Lamb, Ronaldo Kegel and Royce Zah. The collective discovered the names after receiving a gunshot residue (GSR) report from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation through a public filing request.
On April 28, three people were arrested in Bartow County, Georgia for allegedly giving the public information about the officers who killed Tortuguita at the neighborhood level. The three are accused of distributing leaflets naming one of Tortuguita’s alleged killers, Jonathan Augusto Salcedo, who lives in a small housing development called White, Georgia, outside of Cartersville.
The three are charged “Intimidation of a police officer/family in retaliation for performing duties by force” a felony and a misdemeanor stalking. During a bail hearing before Bartow County Magistrate Judge Brandon Bryson last Monday, all three were denied bail and remain being held in the Bartow County Jail pending their Bond hearing in Supreme Court.
The charge of felony intimidation GA Code § 16-10-97 (2018) carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, depending on which section of the statute prosecutors choose to apply. The portion of the law specific to law enforcement officers carries a minimum sentence of one year and a maximum of five years and a $5,000 fine. Arrest warrants filed in the case do not indicate which section they apply.
The leaflet the trio are said to have distributed included a photo of Salcedo’s face, along with his address and phone number, and information informing neighbors of Salcedo’s possessions “murdered” Tortuguita, according to people familiar with its contents.
After the incident, Salcedo told prosecutors that he “felt harassed and intimidated by people distributing these flyers.” according to court records.
In criminal arrest warrants filed in Bartow County Magistrates Court, prosecutors charged all three of those arrested “Providing neighborhood flyers that Jonathan Sacledo [sic] on mailboxes [sic] who claimed Jonathan was a murderer as a result of an incident in Atlanta.” (Salcedo’s name is misspelled by prosecutors throughout the warrant).
Bartow County Mag Court warrants redacted
That’s what they say “The defendant was in the Highland Point area where Jonathan Sacledo was [sic] lives” And “Knowingly, intentionally, without consent, and with the intent to harass and intimidate Jonathan Sacledo [sic]Reaching out to people in his neighborhood through flyers for no legitimate purpose.”
The warrants, signed by Bartow County Attorney Leona Clark, are merely preliminary statements from a police officer intended to establish a probable cause for the arrest. Many of the statements in the documents are likely to be challenged by both the defense in court and by the public in the court of public opinion — for example, whether those arrested had one or not “legitimate purpose” being in the officer’s neighborhood and whether it is constitutionally protected speech to inform neighbors that someone on their block has killed someone.
The charges and continued detention of the three people perpetuate a pattern of Georgian law enforcement using increasingly brutal tactics against people opposed to “Cop City” and participants in the movement to stop it, including indicting 42 activists under a rare applied state domestic terrorism law. So far, most of the repression of activists appears to be coordinated by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), although the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has also been involved in the ongoing investigation.
Those arrested in Bartow County were questioned by FBI Agent David King and an unidentified GBI agent. According to a source with knowledge of the incident, the three refused to give officers any information. The majority of the domestic terrorism arrest warrants for Stop Cop City protesters or people allegedly involved in the movement were signed by Special Agent Ryan Long, who appears to be running the case for the GBI.
In March, following a historic direct action targeting the Cop City project site, law enforcement arrested 23 people at a music festival also taking place in the forest on the same day. Of those 23 people, three remained in the DeKalb County Jail until earlier this week. After preliminary hearings for all three on May 3, one was released on bail.
Another person arrested in January and charged with domestic terrorism for his alleged participation in the movement was also released from the Fulton County Jail on Wednesday.
“As part of their ongoing crackdown, police have resorted to effectively kidnapping and detaining defendants without bail and without cause to prevent further information about Tortuguita’s murder from coming to light.”
Participants in the movement in a written statement released to Unicorn Riot
To draw attention to the escalating repression, groups like the National Lawyers Guild’s Mass Defense Committee and others have launched a new campaign called “We Are All Forest Defenders,” calling on their supporters to publicly stand in solidarity with those arrested . “In many cases, police quoted ridiculous things in warrants like ‘with muddy boots’ or ‘with a lawyer’s number written on them.'” wrote supporters in a public announcement of the campaign.
As part of the campaign, activists are encouraging supporters to post photos of themselves with muddy boots or with a prison number on their arm on social media.
A graphic shared by various social media accounts of the movement declares “We Are All Forest Defenders” in solidarity with those arrested and charged with crimes for their participation in the #StopCopCity movement.
“The suppression of protests in Atlanta is one of many instances where the state has used legally aggressive tactics to isolate, silence and intimidate progressive activists.” said the National Lawyers Guild’s Mass Defense Committee in a statement about the campaign sent to Unicorn Riot.
“These repressive arguments by Georgian prosecutors are part of a centuries-old legacy of the US legal system that unfairly punishes people who speak out against harmful government actions.”
The National Lawyers Guild’s Mass Defense Committee in a statement to Unicorn Riot
Although the Bartow County incident drew attention to State Trooper Salcedo, he is only one of five officers suspected of involvement in the shooting of Tortuguita. One of the others, Trooper Royce Zah, is currently being sued in federal court for shooting Georgia State University journalism student Mikaela Dyett in the face with a plastic bullet during a George Floyd protest on May 29, 2020 in Atlanta.
“Despite the fact that Ms. Dyett did not commit a crime and posed no threat, Trooper Zah fired a bullet from his FN Herstal 303 at her, hitting her in the face just below her left eye.” wrote Dyett’s attorney in a civil complaint. “The polystyrene projectile shattered when it hit Ms. Dyett’s face, causing extreme pain and damage to her face and eyes. Plastic splinters and bismuth pellets from the projectile embedded in their facial tissues. She ran away, bleeding from her face and eye. The damage to Ms. Dyett’s face and eye caused by Trooper Zah’s FN Herstal 303 projectile required extensive medical intervention and resulted in permanent facial disfigurement.”
While three other people sit in Georgia County jails awaiting word of whether they will spend years of their lives in prison, it remains to be seen how far those in power will go to ensure their increasingly unpopular vision of a “Cop City ‘ and the world it represents comes into play. The opposition, for its part, shows no sign of deadlock.
Unicorn Riot‘s coverage of the Movement to Defend the Atlanta Forest:
- Landing Page: Unicorn Riot Coverage of the Atlanta Forest Protection Movement
- One Bail Granted, Two Denied Release in Court: Forest Defenders Appear for Preliminary Hearings (May 4, 2023)
- According to DeKalb County autopsy (April 21, 2023), no gunpowder residue was found on Manuel ‘Tortuguita’ Terán
- Eight remain in prison since March 5 Welaunee Forest Raid, 15 released (March 24, 2023)
- Behind the #StopCopCity Domestic Terrorism Arrest Warrants (March 21, 2023)
- A historic direct action in a forest outside of Atlanta (March 18, 2023)
- Independent Autopsy Report by Manuel ‘Tortuguita’ Terán Released at Press Conference (March 13, 2023)
- Atlanta Forest Police Raid After ‘Cop City’ Opponents Overrun Security Post (March 5, 2023)
- Stop Cop City Action Week Begins in Atlanta (March 4, 2023)
- “Tortuguita Vive”: An Uncompromising Movement Responds to Police Killing of Forest Defender (February 27, 2023)
- Atlanta Activists Say Prosecutors Plan to Charge Them with RICO Charges (February 25, 2023)
- ‘Community’ Committee Hails Police Brutality as Authorities Crush ‘Cop City’ Resistance (February 24, 2023)
- Supporters of the “Cop City” opposition rally in Philly (February 24, 2023)
- Minneapolis March Connects Rooftop Depot Demolition Resistance to Atlanta Forest (February 21, 2023)
- Atlanta PD Releases Bodycam Footage of Deadly Forest Heist January 18 (February 8, 2023)
- Manuel ‘Tortuguita’ Terán’s Family Seeks Transparency About Police Killings (February 7, 2023)
- City of Atlanta and DeKalb County Announce “Agreement” Amid Growing Opposition to Cop City (January 31, 2023)
- Marches and vigils in US in response to police killing of Forest Defender Tort (January 22, 2023)
- Protester Shot Dead by Officers in Atlanta Forest Raid (January 18, 2023)
- Blackhall intensifies destruction of Weelaunee People’s Park in Atlanta Forest (January 16, 2023)
- SWAT Teams Attack Atlanta Forest Camps, Activists Charged With “Terrorism” (December 18, 2022)
- [Mini Doc] Defense of the Atlanta Forest: Behind the Cop City Stop Movement (October 9, 2022)
- General Contractor Offices Attacked in “Cop City” (May 19, 2022)
- Atlanta Forest Police Raid Occupation (May 18, 2022)
- Atlanta fights to save its forest (May 14, 2022)
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